


Flickers

by WaltzofWords



Category: Naruto
Genre: Allusions Abound, Complicated - Freeform, F/M, Holycrapthisisacomplicatedmess, I probably over thought this, Juxtaposition, Meta, Underneath the underneath, flickers, subtle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-10 19:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4404932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaltzofWords/pseuds/WaltzofWords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Body Flicker Technique is standard in any ninja's arsenal; there are only brief flickers before they disappear further again. </p><p>The flickers as ninja race through the terrain are flashes from a journey; this their journey of life told in flickers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sun for a Jinchuriki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Under the moonlight, there are suns.

Soft, soft the moonlight beams down, softer than any feather. She's grateful because he’d snap to full wakefulness at the barest touch of down. 

There are lines around his eyes now--just small creases--and a ridge in his forehead that wasn’t there before. The frown lines are the worst of all to behold though. These changes are so minute--likely too minute for even the ANBU. Warm possessiveness fluttered through her veins. He might not even have realized for all his observational skill, but she had a fuuinjutsu master’s perfect recall. It’s a bittersweet blessing. 

The peace they have between them now dredges up memories of when they would snap awake at the smallest movement of the other--a nudge, a minute noise. For ninja, intimacy is a difficult thing. It’s learning to let down your guard--to trust someone explicitly. It’s more difficult for the men than the women, she muses. They have to let themselves be helpless, blindly trusting their partner in that moment, whereas women could fake that trust. 

Softly, slowly, she shifts closer to him, smiling when he doesn’t truly wake, but pulls her closer. Kushina’s smile turned wry as she smoothed the lines on her husband’s face with fingertip brushes lighter than fleeting moonlight. (Isn’t that ironic? The day they met, she thought she’d only touch him to plant her fist in his face. She still wants to sometimes, but only very, very, very rarely.) The look in her eyes is as soft as her touch, but the eyes themselves are incandescent like the sun for all their dark color. It is as if he was her sun, and his proximity and radiance causes her world to shine. She hopes that light is reflected back twofold because she shines too, if only dimly. Here in the dead of night, illuminated only by the moon and cloaked by the night, when his responsibilities don’t weigh as heavily over him--but he can never shed them completely; that was just the way he was--she could protect his sleep and carry his burdens for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I mentioned MinaKushi is one of my favorite ships? No? It is.
> 
> Overt overarching references are the time Naruto calling his parents his "two suns" and the beating Kushina threatened Minato with. The underneath the underneath? It's a tangled undergrowth.


	2. I Love Yous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Naruto does ask Hinata about the genjutsu dream eventually."

They don’t talk about it--or besides the bare facts for a mission report--for a long while, too unsure of the foundation between them, but Naruto does ask Hinata about the genjutsu dream eventually. By then, he’s sure Hinata really knows all his silly traits. She’s aware of how much of the village idiot, or at least academic idiot is still there, real beneath the label of the village hero _and she’s still there and still loving him._

By the end of the conversation, Naruto realizes just how much of himself Hinata’s seen, noticed, remembered--just how _long_ and _well_ and _deeply_ she’s loved him--and a feeling heavier than Kurama’s chakra ever was seems to weigh him down.

It soothed that inner darkness--the change in the rest of the village’s opinion he still didn’t, _couldn’t_ , bring himself to trust, but Hinata’s love is altogether a different thing. She loved him for being a _failure_ : for him, his efforts, long before those efforts bore fruit. He’s not sure what the expression on his face was, but Hinata smiled her soft smile and, simply said “Aishiteru.” (Naruto swears right then, he’ll say “Koishiteru” to her first. He just pulls her tightly to him and buries his face in her shoulder for now.) It’s just taken him this long to notice her. He whimpers a little at just how many years he’s wasted being an idiot. He’s never really minded his stupidity outside combat, but he suddenly regrets not being as astute as his father was reputed to be.

Hinata holds him and rubs light, soothing circles into his back--despite his physical nature, Naruto still hasn’t quite become accustomed to physical affection. He’s skittish when he’s not initiating it. Her consideration--or the realization of her consideration--makes Naruto feels like an absolutely terrible boyfriend.

He’s not sure why Hinata’s fine with ramen dates when Sakura, Ino, and TenTen all splutter and call him baka for it. He’s not sure he deserves Hinata, despite what Sakura said. He’s not sure he confessed to her because he thought of her as more than a precious friend and not because he wants to be wanted and thought Hinata was the girl who wanted _him_  (and not his reputation or achievements). (He's damn sure he doesn't want to examine how selfish his motivations were right now though, for justified fear they outweighed everything else. He doesn't want their relationship to be marked by that, maybe someday when it's much stronger he'll build up the courage.) He’s pretty sure she knows that last part too, and the thought is lowering.

So he pulls her even closer and mutters an apology into her neck. Hinata makes a soft, soothing sound and her hold is just a hair tighter.

Naruto swears it again he’ll say “Koishiteru” first--and mean it as a declaration of absolute truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a very different style. Slightly more realistic, complicated relationship dynamics. 
> 
> I really, really liked some parts of the movie. But that pause when Naruto confesses? I don't think that was just Toneri coming. I think Hinata could tell Naruto was lying (or at least, partially lying) like Naruto could tell Sakura was. I also think Naruto has a larger sensing range, because Hinata doesn't have her Byakugan activated and Naruto has heightened senses because of Kurama. 
> 
> So, what I think actually happened is Naruto is still very desperate to be loved, but now--like with the ninja asking for autographs--he's incredibly leery of everyone who sees his achievements and reputation but wouldn't accept him as he is/was. He's aware it's a paradox--didn't he want to do great things (become Hokage) so people would acknowledge him? But now that acknowledgement feels so empty to him. He should be able to trust his comrades, but the scars run really deep. He also can't be sure that it's actually him they like. What that genjutsu actually does is remind Naruto of Hinata's behavior around him. So much of it is actually in his memory--Hinata's support from all those years ago, when she offered to let him cheat even though it would mean she'd get disqualified, with the ointment, before he beat Neji, before he beat Pain, before he was a war hero (and those are only the moments we see). Naruto then realizes that Hinata liked him before, and this is the girl whose behavior was most consistent before his achievements and after. (Sakura's has changed a lot, and Ino's has to be a much more drastic change. That might partly just be them growing up, but remember, darkside!Naruto.) Naruto thinks of Hinata as someone familiar enough to be safe, and yet maybe a chance at genuinely being loved for being himself. 
> 
> That's why I think he's so despondent--the moment he reaches out for love, it seems to backfire in the most horrible way possible. It's like a dark mire of personal ghosts suck him down for a bit, before Sakura knocks some sense into him. Then Naruto hears that he has a bit of hope, but knows Sakura definitely loves Sasuke. So Naruto's now wondering if he's just someone people can't love again as he looks down. 
> 
> That's how I imagine the subtext of everything going anyways. 
> 
>  
> 
> So, this is going to be playing out in other flickers. Especially because:
> 
> Daisuke: "I love you" for friends or confessions.
> 
> Aishiteru: "I love you" for romantic love.
> 
> Koishiteru: "I love you" for the person that they want to spend their life with. 
> 
>  
> 
> We're in media res, yep.


	3. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the terrors of the night only hold so much power.

The presence of someone who loves you and is loved by you in turn does much to alleviate the terrors of the night. 

Not that all the terrors are banished, of course. Sometimes Sasuke wakes up a little unsure--did he dream it all? Was part of it a dream? Which part? The now or the past? Would he wake up to find Itachi? Would he be a boy running to his parents? But then he feels the body beside his, of Sakura’s eyes on him, and he calms down. This is the reality. Yes, everything happened. The past is the past; he’s learned that dwelling on it just brings disaster. 

There is nothing in the past but decisions made and their ghosts. Here and now he’s found a home again. 

Sasuke resolves to allow Naruto one moment of uncommented-upon stupidity for beating some sense into him all those years ago. Really, he should up it to two, because that baka just kept running through his graces too fast. Some things never changed--but some things did and do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm unfortunately a very sporadic writer, as I do prefer to read. 
> 
> However, feel free to throw prompts at me for this. ;) 
> 
>  
> 
> This one is a lot more straight forward, except a few moments of confusion after waking up. I think Naruto is actually the more complicated, convoluted one, while Sasuke is actually direct, so his character voice and the structure reflects and reinforces that.


End file.
